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Zoning board approves revised 57 Marchant Street garage after redesign, with vegetation screen condition
Summary
After concluding the revised petition represented a substantial change from a denied 2024 plan, the Newport Zoning Board approved a special-use permit and lot‑coverage variance for a single‑stall garage and mudroom at 57 Marchant Street, imposing a condition that the north‑side hedgerow remain at its current height.
The Newport Zoning Board of Review voted 5‑0 on May 19 to approve a special‑use permit and dimensional variance allowing construction of a single‑stall garage with storage above and a small mudroom at 57 Marchant Street.
The board first held a preliminary vote to determine whether the application filed within a year of a prior denial was “substantially different” from the version turned down in 2024. After hearing testimony from the applicant’s architect and attorney about reduced footprint, lower height and reoriented rooflines, the board found the changes sufficient to rehear the case. That preliminary finding passed on a 5‑0 roll call.
At the full hearing the applicants—Amar and Chrisanthia Taj—presented revised drawings showing a smaller garage footprint, a narrower mudroom and a north‑side setback increased to 10 feet. Architect Ross Kann testified the revised design reduces perceived massing by changing the gable orientation and lowering portions of the roof. The board received neighborhood photos and testimony from abutters both for and against the proposal; neighbors cited concerns about massing, height and shadowing while applicants and their experts said the design was in keeping with local patterns and that storage above grade was necessary because the property’s basement floods.
After deliberation the board adopted the staff report, testimony and the applicants’ materials as the record of decision, and granted the requested relief on standard conditions: the project must start and be substantially completed within 12 months of the decision (or an approved extension), outstanding public‑notice invoices must be paid before recording, and the board added a condition requested during deliberations that the existing vegetation screen on the north property line be maintained at its current height to preserve the abutter’s privacy. The motion to approve carried unanimously.
The board and applicants also discussed changes in city zoning standards enacted since the prior hearing; board members noted new R‑4 setback language applies to this parcel though mapping of R‑4 is incomplete and proportional lot‑coverage rules remain applicable.
The board’s decision reduces the proposed lot‑coverage figure from earlier iterations to 36.57% (the final application figure in the record) and finds the change in design addressed earlier concerns about massing and neighborhood compatibility. The board’s approval does not permit habitable space in the loft above the garage; the applicants’ architect said the loft does not meet Rhode Island code requirements for habitable space because less than three‑quarters of its floor area attains the minimum clear height.
The applicants were directed to prepare the written decision for the board docket.
